Image Credit: The Star
By Lee Clow
18 September 2019 | Champions League
Spurs once again lost a 0-2 lead as Olympiakos fought back to earn a draw in the first game of the Champions League group stage.
After playing Crystal Palace with lots of energy and fizz on Saturday, Spurs fell flat in Greece and were lucky not to lose despite taking a two goal lead. Goals from Harry Kane and Lucas Moura gave Tottenham a fortunate lead after 30 minutes, but they let their concentration slip once again and allowed Olympiakos to draw level through Daniel Podence and Mathieu Valbuena.
Going into the game Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino stated that he was going to be creative with his team selection and in doing so made 5 changes. Serge Aurier and Danny Rose were left back in London so Davinson Sanchez came in to play a make shift right back while Ben Davies slotted in at left back. Pochettino’s other 3 changes included starts for Ndombele who came in for Sissoko, Lucas for Son and Dele for Lamela.
The opening stages of the game was dominated by the home side and this was helped with backing of the boisterous home crowd. After 17 minutes Olympiakos’ pressure almost paid off when they came inches away from scoring. After a great lay off by by Pondence, Guerro struck a low effort onto the post before its rebound fell to Guilherme who sailed his effort over the crossbar. This was a huge warning sign for Spurs who were sloppy and non-existent in attack.
Tottenham eventually grew into the game and soon were rewarded with some luck. Spurs were awarded a penalty by the referee after Kane, in trying to skip past the defender, was upended in the box. The decision was confirmed by VAR and allowed Kane to step up and take the penalty he won. The England skipper, who missed his last spot kick for his country against Kosovo, dispatched the penalty into the roof of the net to give Tottenham an unlikely lead in Greece.
The goal sparked the visitors into life and only 4 minutes later they found themselves 0-2 up when Moura fired home. Ben Davies cleverly won the ball back and played in the Brazilian who hammered a half volley, from outside the box, into the back of the net past a well beaten Jose Sa.
It was looking good for Tottenham who were minutes away from going into the break 0-2 up but just like the Arsenal game their sloppiness at the back came back to haunt them. Podence and Valbuena who were the best players on the pitch combined to devastating effect and broke through the Tottenham defence allowing Podence to strike low past Lloris to half the North London side’s advantage.
During the half time break it was questioned how a team of Tottenham's quality and experience could not be capable of seeing out a two-goal advantage.
Early in the second half Tottenham thought they went 1-3 up when Dele poked in Eriksen’s cross. The goal was ruled out for offside by the linesman and this was soon confirmed by the replays. Dele’s disallowed goal means he remains without a goal in 14 matches for Tottenham.
After this little scare, the hosts resumed their dominance over Tottenham and soon found themselves level when they were awarded a penalty. Christian Eriksen, who had a nightmare of a game, failed to clear his lines after a spell of pressure and this allowed Valbuena to receive the ball inside the area before being tripped up carelessly by Vertonghen. The referee immediately called for a spot kick and like Kane, Valbuena took the penalty he won and stroked it home sending Lloris the wrong way.
After equalising Olympiakos took their foot off the gas clearly happy with the current result and this allowed Spurs to dominate the final quarter of the game. Tottenham created two situations where if they squared the ball to Kane it could have won them the game. The first came when Dele found a way through the Olympiakos defence but chose to strike towards goal instead of squaring it to Kane who was unmarked. The second came through Erik Lamela who did everything right beforehand, but once again like Dele went for goal instead of squaring it to their talisman. The Tottenham striker was clearly frustrated with his teammates and this summed up the overall performance of the team.
After a failed last minute counter attack from Spurs, the whistle blew and the points were shared. Tottenham will be hugely disappointed with their result having lost a two goal lead again as they did against Arsenal. The result also leaves Spurs with only point from their opening game meaning qualification could be a whole lot trickier with Bayern Munich and Crvena Zvezda to come.
After the game Mauricio Pochettino was not too pleased with his sides performance. "I feel very disappointed. To be honest, first half I wasn't happy with our performance. From the beginning we had a plan. We didn't respect the plan. I told the players at half-time. We scored two goals but if you only analyse the performance it wasn't great. We conceded a lot of chances to them and the first goal was so painful. We didn't translate that type of aggression these type of games demand."
What’s next?
Tottenham are back in Premier League action on Saturday as they travel to Leicester for a lunch time kick off. Spurs’ next Champions League group stage tie is on October 1st when they play German giants Bayern Munich at home.
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